Wrapping machine



, 1, 1936. J. VAN BUREN 2,050,818

WRAPPING MACHINE Filed Sept. 8, 1934 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 N ENTO J0l/A/ lily UEEIV ATTORN EYJ.

J. VAN BUREN WRAPPING MACHINE Aug. 11, 1936. 2,050,818

Filed Sept. 8, 1934 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR IO/MI Vfi/VBUEEN Aug. 11, 1936. J. VAN BUREN WRAPPING MACHINE Filed Sept. 8, 1934 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 Aug. 11, 1936. VA' BqRE-N 2,050,818

WRAPPING MACHINE Filed Sept. 8, 1954 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 WM YJMMQ Aug. 11, 1936. J. VAN BUREN WRAPPING MACHINE Filed Sept. 8, 1954 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 W 7 w w E m ,N T m W V ...T N a YM B Aug. 11, 1936. J. VAN \BUREN 2,050,818

WRAPPING MACHINE Filed Sept. 8, 1954 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTOR JOHN WW .2

TTORNEYS Patented Aug. 11, 1936 'E'ES 10 Claims.

This invention relates to wrapping machines and particularly to machines for wrapping boxes.

The invention has for its salient object to provide a machine of the character described so constructed and arranged that the wrapper will be tightly folded and secured around the box or container.

Another object of the invention is to provide foldin and securing means in a machine of the character specified, so constructed and arranged that the folds will be securely held during the wrapping operation and the first folds made will not unfold or become loosened during the forming of the subsequent folds and the securing of I the folds around the box.

Further objects of the invention will app-ear from the following specification taken in connection with the drawings which form a part of this application, and in which Fig. l is an end elevation of the machine constructed in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the machine shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top plan View of the machine;

Fig. 4 is a plan View of the machine taken substantially on line i4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation of the folding mechanism;

Fig. 6 is an elevational View taken at right angles to Fig. 5;

Fig. '7 is a view similar to Fig. 5 but showing the end folders in operative position after the upper and lower end tucks have been formed;

Fig. 8 is an elevational view taken at right angles to Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a sectional elevation showing a box and wrapper being fed upwardly to the folding mechanism;

Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 9 but showing the box and wrapper in elevated position and about to be fed to the end tucking and folding means; and

Fig. 11 is a view similar to Figs. 9 and 10 but showing the box and Wrapper fed upwardly to the folding mechanism and the plunger, which has fed the box and wrapper upwardly, on its downward stroke.

The invention briefly described consists of a machine for folding wrappers around boxes comprising means for feeding the boxes and wrappers, means for successively feeding each box and wrapper upwardly to folding mechanism, successively acting means for placing the upper and lower end tucks in the wrapper and for folding the ends of the wrapper across the tucks and ends of the box, means for securing the wrapper in folded position and means for discharging the wrapped boxes or articles from themachine.

The lower end tucks are placed in the wrapper by positively actuated but resiliently pressed 5 tucking members and the upper tucks are placed in the wrapper by downwardly movable tucking members which are arranged to move downwardly after forming the upper tucks to a position over the lower tucks, whereupon folding means 10 are brought into action to .fold the end folds at .one side of the article over the tucks formed therein. These folding means are carried by the same member which carries the means forforming the upper tucks and the latter means are 15 moved out of operating position as the folding means come into operation.

Further details of the invention will appear from the following description.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, the boxes or containers are fed to the machine by an endless conveyor 20 'by which they are deposited successively on a shelf or table 2|. This construction is particularly illustrated in Figs. 2, 5 and 6. The table 2! has an opening ,22 in the bottom thereof, and is shorter in length than the length of the boxes B.

An end wall 23 is located at the advance end of the table or shelf 2| and forms a stop for positioning the boxes as they are fed upwardly by the conveyor 20.

A plunger 25 is mounted for vertical reciprocation through the opening 22 and is constructed and arranged to periodically feed the forward box upwardly through an opening 26 in a table or support 21 which is disposedabove the path of movement of the boxes from the conveyor 21!.

The plunger 25 has a head 28 at the upper end thereof and has secured thereto a plate 29 which forms a stop for the next succeeding box when the forward box is being fed upwardly by the plunger.

When the forward'box is fed upwardly in the manner just described a wrapper has been deposited on the table 21 by a feeding mechanism and is disposed in the pathof upward movement of the box. This feeding mechanism will be hereinafter described.

The plunger 25 is actuated in the following manner: The main drive shaft of the machinezis shown in Figs. 2 and 4 at 30. This shaft is .operatively connected by gears 3! and 32 to a shaft 33 which is connected by a sprocket 34, chain 35 and sprocket 36 to drive a shaft 37. A disk 38 is fixed to the shaft 31 and carriesa pin 39 which is disposed in a slot 40 of'an arm 41 mounted on 55 a fixed pivot 42. As the disk and pin are rotated the arm 4| will be oscillated upwardly and downwardly about its pivot 42. A link 43 is pivoted at 44 to the end of the arm 4| and is pivoted at 45 to the lower end of the plunger 25. Thus, as the link is oscillated the plunger will be reciprocated periodically and will feed successive boxes and wrappers upwardly to the folding mechanism hereinafter described.

The feeding and cutting mechanism for the wrapper strip may be constructed in any desired manner, but is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3 as comprising two sets of feed rolls A and C. The feed rolls A comprise a pair of rolls 50 and 5|, the roll 50 having a cutting blade 52 mounted thereon, as shown in Fig. 3. The rolls 50 and 5| are geared together and the roll 5| is driven by a gear connection 53, 54 from a spindle or shaft 55. The shaft 55 is connected by a sprocket 56, chain 51 and sprocket 58 to a shaft 59 which in turn is driven by a bevel gear connection 60, 6| from the shaft 33.

The feed rolls C which receive the severed strip are rotated at a slightly faster rate of speed than the feed rolls A and comprise a pair of rolls 62, 63 which are geared together in the usual manner. The roll 63 is mounted on a shaft 64 which is driven by a sprocket 65, chain 66 and sprocket 61 from a shaft 68. The shaft 68 is driven from the shaft 59 by a spur gear connection comprising a pair of gears 69 and 10.

By the driving connections above described the paper is fed from the strip or supply roll by the feed rolls A and is severed thereby and is thereafter fed by the feed rolls C to the supporting table 21. Guides 1| and 12 are provided for the sides of the strip and an end stop 13 limits the movement of the strip on the table 21.

The forward box when fed upwardly by the plunger 25 carries with it the wrapper which is folded during this feeding movement across the front, back and top of the box in the manner shown in Fig. 6. The two ends of the wrapper extend downwardly below the lower edge of the box.

During this upward feeding movement one side of the wrapper is pressed against the back of the box by a presser member 15 which is mounted on a pivot 16 and is resiliently actuated to press the wrapper against the box. The other side of the wrapper is held against the front of the box by a guide plate 11.

After the box and wrapper have been fed upwardly to the position shown in Fig. 6, the depending end 80 of the wrapper W is folded across the bottom of the box by means of a plate 8| carried by a slide 82 which is mounted on a pair of rods 83 and 84 slidably mounted in bearings 85. The slide is reciprocated by a link 86 which is connected at its rear end, as shown at 81, to an arm 88 mounted on a fixed pivot 89. This arm has a pin or roller 90 mounted thereon intermediate the ends thereof and disposed in a cam groove 9| formed in a cam mounted on a shaft 92. nection 93, 94 from a shaft 95. The latter shaft is connected by bevel gears 96 and 91 to a shaft 98 which in turn is connected by bevel gears 99 and I00 to the shaft 31.

The folding plate 8| will thus be reciprocated periodically to fold the downwardly extending end 80 of the wrapper W across the bottom of the box.

After the end W has been folded in the manner above described the box and. wrapper will be fed The shaft 92 is driven by a bevel gear confrom the position shown at X in Fig. 6 to the position shown at Y. This feeding operation is performed by a pusher plate I05 which is carried by slide rods I06 and I01 slidably mounted in suitable bearings I08. The pusher plate is actuated by a link I09 which is pivoted at IIO to an arm or lever III mounted on a fixed pivot H2 and having mounted thereon intermediate its ends a pin or roller H3. The roller II3 engages a cam H4 and as the cam rotates the arm III will be oscillated to cause the pusher plate I05 to feed the box and wrapper from the position shown at X to the position shown at Y in Fig. 6. During this feeding movement the depending end 80A of the wrapper is folded across the folded end 80 by the edge I I5 of a hot plate or support II6 which is disposed in alinement with a supporting table H1. The wrapper W used in the particular embodiment of the invention illustrated is waxed and the folded ends of the wrapper will be sealed around the box by the heat of the hot plate II6.

After the box and wrapper have reached the position Y shown in Fig. 6 the upper and lower ends of the wrapper are tucked against the ends of the box and the projecting ends of the wrapper are thereafter folded across the tucked ends and across the ends of the box. This is accomplished in the following manner:

The lower ends of the wrapper are tucked upwardly against the ends of the box by tuckers I2I which are mounted on pivots I22 carried by arms I23 which in turn are mounted on shafts I25 and I26. The tuckers I2I are resiliently actuated by springs I21 and are provided with depending portions I28 which by engagement with the arms I23 limit the movement of the tuckers by the springs I21.

The shafts I25 and I26 are periodically oscillated in the following manner: This construction is particularly illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 wherein it will be seen that the shafts I25 and I26 are connected by bevel gears I29, I30 and I3I, I32 to a shaft I33. The shaft I33 has mounted on one end thereof a crank arm I34 which is connected to a pitman I35. The pitman I35 has its other end bifurcated, as shown at I36, the bifurcated end of the pitman extending on opposite sides of the shaft 33. A roller I31 is carried by the pitman I35 and is disposed in and driven by a cam I38 mounted on the shaft 33. As the pitman is actuated by the cam the tuckers |2I will be moved upwardly from the position shown in Fig. 7 to the position shown in Fig. 5 and will tuck the lower ends of the wrapper upwardly against the lower portions of the ends of the boxes.

After the lower tucks have been formed in the manner just described the upper tucks will be formed by tucker blades I40 and MI. These blades are carried by sleeves I42 and I43 which are slidably mounted on vertically disposed square shafts I44 and I45 which are supported in a frame I46 and in brackets I41 and I48 depending from the frame. 7

The tucker blades are vertically reciprocated by arms I50 and I5l which are mounted on a spindle I52. The arms I50 and I5I are connected by a cross rod I53 to which is pivoted a pitman I54 which is bifurcated at its lower end and straddles the shaft 33 and is provided with a roller I55 disposed in a cam I55 mounted on the shaft 33. As the cam rotates the pitman will be vertically reciprocated and will oscillate the arms I50 and I5I about the pivot shaft or spindle I52. The arms I50 and I5I are pivoted at their ends to i'yokes .or collars I51 which encircle and are disposed in grooves in the sleeves I42 and I43. The

uppermost position of the tucker blades I40 and I41 is shown in Fig. 6 in dotted lines and after zthe .box and wrapper have been fed to the position Y the blades are moved downwardly from the dotted line position to the position shown at 'Y in Fig. 10. In this position it will be noted that the blades I46 and MI have formed the upper tucks in the wrapper and have moved downwardly to the position overlapping the lower tucks.

After the upper and lower tucks have been formed the end folds along the rear edges of the box are folded across the ends of the box in the following manner: The sleeves I42 and I43 in addition to carrying the tucker blades I48 and MI also carry folding members or spindles I 60 and IISI. The spindles I60 and I6I are mounted on the ends of arms I62 pivoted at I63 on lugs I64 formed on the sleeves I42 and I43. The arms I62 are extended beyond the pivots H53 in the form of extensions or arms I65 which are resiliently actuated by springs I 56. The springs press the spindles toward the ends of the box but this movement is limited by fixed guide strips I 6?.

The spindles I 66 and I BI are moved toward and away from operative position by the rotation of the shafts I44 and I45. These shafts are connected by bevel gears I79 and III to a shaft I12. The shaft i2 is periodically oscillated by an arm I73 which is connected to a pitman I'M having thereon a roller I'I5 actuated by a cam I16 mounted on the shaft 92. The various operative parts of the machine including the cams are so timed that after the upper and lower end tucks are placed in the wrapper and the tucking blades I49 and MI have been moved downwardly to their lowermost positions, the shafts I44 and I will be rotated or oscillated by the driving connections just described to move the spindles I60 and I6I across the ends of the box and wrapper, thus folding the wrapper across the ends of the box.

When this has been accomplished the article or box and wrapper are fed forwardly by the actuation of the pusher plate I85 and the remaining end folds will be formed by the engagement of the projecting ends of the wrapper with hot plates I83 which are disposed at the side edges of the path of movement of the wrapped article. As the projecting folds engage the rear edges of the hot plates they will be folded across the other end folds and will be sealed by the heat from the hot plates. After the articles have been wrapped in the manner described they are fed along a supporting shelf or table IBI until they are disposed above a delivery conveyor I82 by which they are discharged from the machine.

Operation The operation of the machine may be summarized as follows: The boxes are fed into the machine in any suitable manner, as by a conveyor 20, and are discharged on the shelf or support 2|. The strip of wrapping material is fed by the feed rolls A and is severed by the knife 52 and is thereafter fed over the opening 26 in the support 21 by the feed rolls C. Thereupon the plunger 25 feeds the foremost box upwardly through the opening 26 and the wrapper which is disposed in the upward path of movement of the box is also fed upwardly to the position shown in Fig. 6. The plate BI is then moved forwardly and folds the depending end 80 against the bottom of the box and the box and wrapper are then fed by the pusher plate I 05, the end 80A :being folded across the folded end 80 at the bottom of :the box.

When the box and wrapperhave been fed:from the position Xto'the position Y in Fig. 6 the lower tuckers I2I are moved upwardly from theposition shown in Fig. 7 to the position shown inFig. .5, thus tucking the lower ends of the wrapper. The upper tuckers comprising the blades I40 .and lil then move downwardly to formtheupper end tucks, these blades moving downwardly :to such an extent that they overlap the lower tucks.

After the tucks have been formed theshafts I44 and I45 are rotated causing the spindles I60 and I6I to fold the end folds at the rear face of thebox forwardly across the end of the boxand across the tucks. The movement of the spindles I65 and I6I is limited by the guide strips I61, IN. The spindles are, however, held against the guide strips by the springs I66. After the spindles I60 and I6I have folded the ends of the wrapper as described the wrapped article is again fed forwardly by the pusher plate action on the articles behind the article disposed in the position Y and the remaining end folds are folded across the ends of the articles by the engagement of these folds with the edgeof the hot plates I80, I80.

Although one specific embodiment of the 'invention has been particularly shown and described it will be understood that the invention is capable of modification and that changes in the construction and in the arrangement of the various cooperating parts may be made without .departing fromthe spirit or scope of the invention, as expressed'in thefollowing claims.

What I claim is: I

1. In a wrapping machine, means for feeding an article and wrapper, means for folding and securing the wrapper around the article, means movable into and out-of engagement with the lower ends of the wrapper for tucking the lower ends of the wrapper against the ends of the article, means for operating said tucking means,

subsequently acting means for tucking the upper ends of the wrapper against the ends of the article, and means for actuating said last named means and moving said upper tucking means over the lower tucked ends after the withdrawal of the first named tucking means.

2. In a wrapping machine, means for feeding an article and wrapper, means for foldingand i securing the wrapper around the article, means for tucking the lower ends of the wrapper against the ends of the article, subsequently acting means for tucking the upper ends of the wrapper against the ends of the article, means for actuating said last named means and moving said upper tucking means over the lower tucked ends after the withdrawal of the first named tucking means, and means for making end folds of the wrapper across the ends of the article and over the tucked ends.

3. In a wrapping machine, means for feeding an article and wrapper, means for folding and securing the wrapper around the article, means movable into and out of engagement with the lower ends of the wrapper for tucking the lower ends of the wrapper against the ends of the article, means for tucking the upper ends of the wrapper against the ends of the article, said last named means being movable over the lower tucked ends after the withdrawal of the first named tucking means, and resiliently pressed means for making end folds of the wrapper across the ends of the article and over the tucked ends.

4. In a wrapping machine, means for feeding an article and wrapper, means for folding and securing the wrapper around the article, means movable into and out of engagement with the lower ends of the wrapper for tucking the lower ends of the wrapper against the ends of the article, means for tucking the upper ends of the wrapper against the ends of the article, said last named means being movable over the lower tucked ends after the withdrawal of the first named tucking means, and resiliently pressed, positively operated means for making end folds of the wrapper across the ends of the article and over the tucked ends.

5. In a wrapping machine, means for feeding an article and wrapper, means for folding and securing the wrapper around the article, a member having tucking means for tucking the ends of the wrapper against the ends of the article, means for reciprocating said member and moving said tucking means along the ends of the article and wrapper to form the end tucks, means carried by said member for folding the ends of the wrapper across the tucked ends and article ends, and means for oscillating said member and moving said tucking means out of operative position and said folding means across the ends of the article and wrapper to form the end folds.

6. In a wrapping machine, means for feeding an article and wrapper, means for folding and securing the Wrapper around the article, members having tucking means for tucking the ends of the wrapper against the upper ends of the article, means for tucking the other ends of the wrapper against the lower ends of the article, and means carried by said members for folding the ends of the wrapper across the tucked ends and article ends, said folding means being movable about axes parallel to the direction of movement of the tucking means.

7. In a wrapping machine, means for feeding an article and wrapper, means for folding and securing the wrapper around the article, members having tucking means for tucking the ends of the wrapper against the upper ends of the article, means for moving said tucking means along the ends of the article and wrapper to form the end tucks, means for tucking the other ends of the wrapper against the lower ends of the article, and means carried by said members for folding the ends of the Wrapper across the tucked ends and article ends, said folding means being movable about axes parallel to the direction of movement of the tucking means.

8. In a wrapping machine, means for feeding an article and wrapper, means for folding and securing the wrapper around the article, members having tucking means for tucking the ends of the wrapper against the upper ends of the article, means for moving said tucking means along the ends of the article and wrapper to form the end tucks, means for tucking the other ends of the wrapper against the lower ends of the article, means carried by said members for folding the ends of the wrapper across the tucked ends and article ends, and means for moving said folding means across the ends of the article and wrapper about axes parallel to the direction of movement of the tucking means to form the end folds.

9. In a Wrapping machine, means for feeding an article and wrapper, means for folding and securing the wrapper around the article, members having tucking means for tucking the ends of the wrapper against the upper ends of the article, means for reciprocating said member and moving said tucking means along the ends of the article and wrapper to form the end tucks, means for tucking the other ends of the wrapper against the lower ends of the article, means carried by said members for folding the ends of the wrapper across the tucked ends and article ends, and means for oscillating said members and moving said folding means across the ends of the article and wrapper about axes parallel to the direction of movement of the tucking means to form the end folds.

10. In a wrapping machine, means for feeding an article and wrapper, means for folding and securing the wrapper around the article, members having tucking means for tucking the ends of the wrapper against the upper ends of the article, means for moving said tucking means along the ends of the article and wrapper to form the end tucks, means for tucking the other ends of the wrapper against the lower ends of the article, means carried by said members and movable relative thereto for folding the ends of the wrapper across the tucked ends and article ends, and means for moving said folding means across the ends of the article and wrapper about axes parallel to the direction of movement of the tucking means to form the end folds.

JOHN VAN BUREN. 

